I’m constantly on this website worrying that I won’t get into any of the colleges I apply to. I have a 4.36W 3.80UW gpa and a 35 ACT. I can’t help worrying that my gpa is too low for any college. Please help me…anyone who has been in my position before.
If you create a reasonable list with matches and safeties then you should be able to get into many colleges. You can look at the average GPAs for colleges and yours is well above many.
You give yourself a reality check on the truth about college admissions. The vast majority of colleges admit the vast majority of applicants. Will you get into the one tippy-top college with a 5% admit rate that you might want? Maybe not. But there are, literally, thousands of colleges who would be thrilled to have you on campus.
If you’re only applying to Harvard and Stanford you might not get in. But if you follow the advice everyone on this site will give you and apply to matches and safeties that you would be excited to attend, you’ll be just fine.
@Lagging Says you, Stanford attendee 
Thank you though!
@Youdon’tsay @delurk1 Yeah you’re both right, and I’m definitely not aiming for tippy top unis like HYPSM. However, what I thought were matches/safeties for me have proven to be otherwise by people on CC…so I’m really sad and worried.
Yeah, statswise, you are competitive for every school in the country. But when so many of those schools admit 5%, 10% or 20%, you HAVE to consider them reaches. When I advise kids, I tell them any school that admits fewer than 30% is a reach, no matter your stats.
At least you are doing this now before getting rejected by all the schools that are reaches. There are so many great schools in this country and you have a lot of time to find some of them so be grateful.
@Youdon’tsay Ok, thank you. I just hope one of my school will want me…
@Dolemite True, thank you!
bump
Also, if any of you could suggest some good match/reach/safety schools that’d be great!
I have a 3.3, and I’m going to a great school!
Look at this thread:
http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/college-admissions/649604-the-i-got-in-without-a-3-7-gpa-club.html
Kids have gotten into Georgetown, USC, NYU, and Rice with a lower GPA than yours! Imagine where you could go!
What is your budget; what are your geographic and size preferences?
I had a ~3.8 GPA unweighted and I got into Cornell, Rice, Northwestern, and some other really good schools. I think you’d have a decent shot at any of those “reach” schools, assuming the rest of your application is as good as your GPA and ACT.
What did you think would be matches and safeties for you?
@ucbalumnus Hmm well I thought:
Matches: UCI, UCD, UCSB, UCSD, CP SLO, UMich, UT Austin
High Matches/Low Reaches: UCLA, Cal, UVA, UNC Chapel Hill, Rice, CMU
Impossible: Stanford, JHU
Safeties: Rutgers, UCSC, UCR, CP Pomona
More realistically, based on your 4.07 UC-weighted-capped GPA indicated elsewhere, assuming the net price calculator indicates affordability:
High reach: UCB, UCLA
Low reach: UCSD
High match: UCD, UCI, UCSB, CPSLO (your stats resemble that of many disappointed UCD and UCI applicants this year)
Low match: UCSC
Almost safety: UCR, UCM (due to the essay and subjective admission reading, cannot say 100% certain), CSUs other than CPSLO
UCs based on 2015 admit rates for 3.80-4.19 GPA in 2015: http://www.universityofcalifornia.edu/infocenter/freshman-admissions-summary .
Among the other schools, UT Austin is a reach for all applicants who do not meet the automatic admission criteria which fills about three quarters of the frosh class. This is especially the case if your class rank is not that high, as you indicate elsewhere.
Remember, make sure that your parents are able and willing to pay for all of the schools on your list. Check net price calculators.
With your profile you can be competitive for most schools in the country you won’t get only every school with a sub 20% rate but you will surely get into a great school. I got into Georgetown with a lower gpa and ACT than yours so nothing is impossible!
@ucbalumnus Ah ok, thank you. I thought UCI/UCD/UCSB would be solid/low matches for me, but I guess not. With an uncapped 10-11 GPA of 4.6W/3.8W how would you say my chances are at B and LA?
In terms of money, UCs are definitely my parents and I’s first choice because I’m in-state.
As for my class rank, it’s not low - I’m in the top 10-15% of the class (exact rank not known because school only publishes deciles, not individual rankings). I was saying in a different thread that I might not be in the top 9% for UC, because of the way they calculate UC GPA.
@hssenior27 Thank you, and congrats on Georgetown!!